Monty Williams has resigned as head coach of the Detroit Pistons, the team announced on Wednesday. A team source said Pistons owner Tom Gores made the decision to fire Williams within the last 24 hours.
Williams signed the richest contract in NBA history last June and has about $60 million remaining on his six-year deal. The decision to part ways with Williams came after Detroit finished with a franchise-worst 14 wins and endured a historic 28-game losing streak that stretched from the fourth game of the season through Dec. 30.
“Decisions like this are difficult, and I want to thank Monty for his hard work and dedication,” Gores said in a statement Wednesday. “A coach has many dynamic challenges that arise during the season, which Monty has always handled with grace. However, after carefully reviewing our performance and evaluating where we currently stand as an organization, we will chart a new path forward.”
The Pistons’ dismal 2023-24 season sees them sink further into the abyss, with no progress being made in their win-loss numbers, amid a rebuild that began in 2020. Gores told reporters in December that change was coming, and the team made some acquisitions before the trade deadline, but the recent hiring of Trajan Langdon as Detroit’s new president of basketball operations was the type of change many fans expected much sooner.
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During interviews during the hiring process for Langdon’s position, Gores told the candidate that money was no object and that he would be free to fire and hire whoever he wanted, according to team and league sources.
To keep his job this season, Williams had to be evaluated and essentially go through an interview process with Langdon. He was expected to present a detailed plan for how he could improve the Pistons on the court, according to team and league sources.
Not only did Williams have to convince the new president of the way forward, but the two then had to convince Gores. Moreover, those involved in the decision to keep or let Williams go wanted to make sure he was genuinely committed to coaching a team that was rebuilding. Team sources said the team has been pushing for complete synergy from top to bottom this offseason.
Williams was hired with the hope that he would help steer a young Detroit team in the right direction after winning just 17 games in 2022-23. After being disappointed with the candidates presented during the recruiting process in April and May 2023, Gores rolled out the red carpet and successfully landed Williams, who was recently released by the Phoenix Suns and whose wife was battling cancer, with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
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Gores’ offer was for a contract that could reach $100 million with incentives, plus additional health insurance and a private jet for Williams and his family while his wife was ill (something he initially declined). At his inaugural press conference, Williams explained why he took the job:
“The short answer is Weaver, the players and the money. This is what people don’t talk about. They say it’s not about the money. I laugh when I hear that. I think it’s disrespectful. … Someone generous enough to pay me that amount should be celebrated first and talked about second. … I love the team-building process. I love watching players develop. I love watching guys understand for the first time what it takes to get through a crisis situation. These jobs are a privilege and there are only 30 of us, so that’s how I see it.”
Gores spoke to select reporters the weekend before Christmas with the Pistons in the midst of a historic losing streak and just two wins on the season. AthleticSpeaking on a video call, he acknowledged that his team is depressed and, with no clear solution in sight, is more involved in day-to-day operations than ever before.
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“Monty and I have had some conversations about rotations. We don’t normally do that,” Gores said. “Monty’s a good guy and he knows what he’s doing and he’s willing to even discuss it. Something has to change. I can’t tell you exactly what it is. We’re working on it pretty seriously. We’re probably two weeks ahead of you. Disappointment is catching up with us. We expected more.
“We need to be realistic and realize that there are things that don’t fit with the makeup of our team. Sure, we could have won a few more games, but how many of those games? Three, four? Who knows what that number is. We’re not in the position we need to be. … I expect change. I don’t think we should talk about there not being change here at all. Change is coming. I’m just saying that with Monty, Troy and all the rest of it… They’ll be in place, but I’m keeping an eye on them. They’ll say that too. There’s going to have to be a lot of accountability. There may be some additions to staff and things like that. One thing for sure, change is coming. We’re not in the right place right now. We’ll have to add and take away. We’re already working on that. We’ll make change. We’ll make change. We don’t know exactly what it’ll be yet.”
Williams wasn’t the best roster pick (an early-season injury changed that), but he and everyone involved contributed to Detroit’s losing streak. They started 2020 No. 7 draft pick Killian Hayes for the majority of the team’s first 30 games. According to team and league sources, the Pistons considered trading or releasing Hayes last summer. By any metric, Hayes was one of the least efficient scorers not just in the current game but in NBA history. But Hayes’ 6-foot-5 frame, ball movement and at times passable defense enticed Williams from afar, and the coach wanted a chance to revive the lottery pick’s career. Hayes has been out of the NBA since being released by Detroit on Feb. 8.
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Additionally, Williams’ confidence in Hayes worked against freshman All-Rookie selection Jaeden Ivey, the No. 5 pick in the 2023 draft, who began his sophomore season off the bench after starting his entire freshman season.
Ivey wasn’t perfect last season. He needed to improve defensively and as a decision-maker. He needed to work on some habits, but Williams prioritized Hayes’ in-game development. The team was willing to give up a top-five pick from the previous year. It didn’t matter that Ivey came off the bench. It was when Ivey came off the bench and played fewer minutes than Hayes over the first two months of the season that the questions started to swirl.
Detroit held organizational meetings midseason and one of the things the staff pointed out to Williams was that Ivey didn’t often play as the lead ball-handler.
“I have to eat,” Williams said. “I wish I had eaten sooner.”
Williams committed to playing bench-heavy lineups for most of the season, even though the lineup should not have more than seven or eight players. The team’s cornerstones, Cade Cunningham and Ivey, were rarely substituted for most of the season, with Ivey finally becoming a starter in December. From October 25 to December 25, Detroit’s bench played the 13th most minutes in the NBA, despite having the league’s worst plus-minus, according to NBA.com. Additionally, the Pistons’ bench had the league’s worst net rating of any bench. Still, Williams continued to field lineups heavy on reserves.
Detroit’s complete failure this season isn’t the fault of any one person — a loss of this magnitude ripples through the entire organization — but the owner wasn’t about to fire himself, and the Pistons couldn’t afford to recall all of their key decision-makers from the worst season in franchise history.
Through Gores, Langdon was given the freedom to do as he pleased within the organization and resolved to wipe it out.
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(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
